Eating out causes leprosy: That’s what PCB wants you to believe

An official PCB signboard citing ‘Those who eat out can expect to contract leprosy’ outside the Ghorpadi Village High School left a health activist shocked on Wednesday; PIC: RAHUL DESHMUKH

Cantonment board slammed for enhancing stigma and misinformation about disease in boards outside school, lavatory; now, officials to look into how this error originated

While the rest of the country seemingly struggles to eradicate leprosy and tackle the stigma around this disease, a local body here has taken up the task of spreading misinformation about the condition via official signages, potentially spreading panic among the public.

The Pune Cantonment Board (PCB) has been called out by a city-based health activist for openly and shockingly claiming that leprosy is caused by eating out, even as he demanded that these messages — outside schools and other bustling locations — be erased immediately.

Activist Aniket Pawar discovered PCB’s blunder on Wednesday, when he found boards installed at various public spots by the local body, printed with a message that alleged: “Whoever eats out, contracts leprosy.”

Pawar, state organiser of the Vande Mataram Sanghatana, which works in the field of healthcare, pointed out that the cantonment board has done the opposite of its duty, which is educating citizens about various health hazards and creating awareness against epidemics and infectious diseases.

Seeing the poster-boards outside civic schools, public lavatories and cantonment offices, he submitted a complaint in this regard to the local body on the same day.

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“Whoever made this blunder should be punished. Such incorrect and misleading information only spreads panic among those who are unaware about the infection. The intentions may not have been evil, but this just shows how casual the authority is towards its responsibilities — staffers are not even applying their minds. Why did a senior health official pay no attention when a junior committed such a big faux pas?” said Pawar, adding, “I was stunned to read such a warning first outside a public lavatory at Wanowrie Bazaar, then on the walls of Ghorpadi Village High School. These are prime locations, where the attention of the public, including impressionable children, can be grabbed easily.”

It has been established by medical experts that leprosy is not — as once assumed —highly contagious like the flu, or spread through contaminated food and water. It can be contracted via droplets of moisture passed through the air by someone who suffers from the nerve and skin infection and has not yet started treatment. Moreover, it takes years of living in close proximity with an untreated leprosy patient to catch the disease.

“This is general knowledge,” emphasised Pawar, “But the PCB health department seems to lack it. They must remove all the misleading posters without any delay, and replace it with the right message to avoid rumours from spreading.”

The view was bolstered by Dr Abhijit Vaidya, national president of the Arogya Sena, who said, “This is an attempt to spread medical superstition. The department must remove these boards and apologise for printing such ridiculous texts at public spots. Leprosy is on the verge of eradication. By bringing it up this way, patients of this disease are stigmatised. This is both objectionable and against scientific truth. Whoever drafted such messages must be punished.”

Human rights advocate Asim Sarode concurred. “Such posters can create panic. The authority cannot take such liberties in the name of simplifying messages to promote cleanliness drives. Whoever is guilty of this must be punished for creating social mischief. Leprosy is completely curable, and its patients cannot be ostracised this way,” he said.

When Mirror contacted PCB chief health superintendent Dr Sanjay Zende, he admitted to the error. “It has been brought to our notice. This is indeed misleading information. We will look into who suggested these false messages. The intention was to spread awareness about cleanliness in our limits, under the Swachh Cantonment campaign. The engineering branch is involved in installing these posters. We have instructed that they be removed as soon as possible,” he said.

This is indeed misleading information. We will look into who suggested these false messages

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